Glee: All Choked Up

Musicals can be fun and silly, they can be soul-crushingly depressing, and they can be surprisingly insightful. The best musicals, in my opinion, manage to do all three. Glee tends to land in the fun and silly portion of
the spectrum more often than it lands in the other two, but every now and then, it manages to score a hat trick.

“Choke” was a story about failure. It had its funny moments: the guys singing “The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Plain” to help Puck study for his geography test and Rachel’s list of don’ts leading up to her NYADA audition—no milk, no doorknobs, no kissing.

It was insightful. Admittedly, an issue as important as domestic abuse should warrant more time than that of the B- or C-story in an episode that featured three parallel stories, but the decision by the writers to make the troubled couple Coach Beiste and Cooter Menkins was jarring and unexpected and probably the entire point behind the decision. Beiste and Cooter are supposed to be one of those gleefully-ever-after couples. Sue and Roz—and later, the New Directions girls—were shocked by Beiste’s admission that she didn’t get her shiner from a punching bag at the gym, she got it from her husband
when he got drunk and angry over dirty dishes. The girls all thought that Cooter was just a big, silly
dope and Roz pointedly asked Beiste, “You’re the size of a house. Why didn’t you just turn around and
kick his ass?”

“I’m not a violent person.”

Sure, Beiste could probably lay a smackdown on anyone, but she’s not the type of person who would
want to. Furthermore, would kicking Cooter’s ass in response to his douchebaggery really
solve anything? Typically, meeting violence with violence only leads to escalation, creating a cycle of
more and more violence.

And finally, “Choke” was really freaking sad. I hesitate to apply term “soul-crushingly depressing” because I usually save that one for the likes of Miss Saigon or West Side Story or the fifth season of Supernatural, but for Glee, where tying everything up in a neat, glittery bow is the standard
operating procedure, this episode may have managed to make me feel feelings that resulted in a sudden
need for tissues.

At the beginning of “Choke,” Puck conceded that there was no way he would be able to pass his
geography final, and therefore no way that he would graduate with his friends. Since the prospect of graduation seemed
hopeless, he decided to ditch the school thing and start concentrating on his pool-cleaning business
right away. A run-in with his deadbeat dad had him forking over most of his California seed money to cover
Daddy Dearest’s rent and rethinking his stance on the Screw High School mindset—his dad was
a dropout. Puck decided that he’d rather follow someone else’s footsteps. Cue the My Fair Lady study session in the locker room.

Puck walked into the exam exuding confidence and despite the fact that two of the answers he wrote down were actually the lyrics to “The Rain in Spain” song, I thought maybe he’d get lucky. Maybe
he’d get points for creativity. I had a history teacher in high school who gave points for creativity. They exist. Maybe Puck’s geography teacher was one of those delightful people. This is Glee after all, and it
would have been so utterly depressing to have Puck go through the game-changing revelation, work
hard to get things back on track, only to fail the freaking test. Right? RIGHT?

Oh. Screw you, Glee.

Then there was Rachel. Rachel has a long history of getting on my nerves because, well, she’s Rachel.
She’s the self-proclaimed star, the shiny one, the future Idina Menzel/Barbra Streisand/Broadway Diva
of Your Choice. She and Kurt spent a good chunk of “Choke” perfecting their NYADA audition songs and it
looked like Kurt would be the one with the shakier performance when he decided to change his song on
the spot, ditching tried-and-true “Music of the Night” for the edgier “Not the Boy Next Door.”

Instead, he nailed his performance and basically cemented his spot in NYADA’s freshman class. Congratulations, Kurt. You’re the only one who gets to be happy this week.

Rachel stuck to her guns, decided to sing “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl because she’d been
practicing it since she was two and could probably sing it backwards, in Spanish, while standing on her
head if she really wanted to show off.

It was a safe call. It’s been assumed from the beginning of series that neurotic, overachieving Rachel was
the one who would “make it.”

And then she blew it, forgot the lyrics, restarted the song twice before Whoopi Goldberg as the NYADA
judge stopped her and refused to let her continue the audition. Rachel, in her own words, “choked,” and it
was the most un-Glee moment of the episode when she just crumbled onto the stage and sobbed.
Sometimes Glee's cover song irritate me because they feel watered-down compared to the originals (like
last night’s “Cell Block Tango”), but Rachel’s subsequent performance of Kelly Clarkson’s “Cry” took the
run-of-the-mill pop schlop to a higher level. If any performance could be plucked from "Choke" to
define the episode, it would Lea Michelle’s “Cry.”

However, the New Directions girls' stripped-down “Shake it Out” cover was definitely a close second. It was
a little awkward and after school special-y, but then, a lot of the action surrounding Beiste’s storyline
bordered on preachy when it came to everyone...except Beiste herself. Despite being tough, intelligent
women, Roz and Sue’s response to Beiste’s problem was little more than “YOU NEED TO LEAVE HIM.”

Newsflash: Most women who find themselves in dangerous relationships are aware they are in
dangerous relationships. Extricating yourself from an abusive relationship is often more complicated
than just packing a suitcase.

And to be fair to Glee, that point was perfectly illustrated by both Beiste’s rationalization of the abuse
(however misguided her thought process was) and her decision to give Cooter a second chance. I just
expected more from Sue and Roz, but like Beiste herself said, “No one tells you what you’re supposed to
do in this situation.”

Next week, Glee goes to prom, though how anyone could possibly feel like dancing after everything
that went down in “Choke” is beyond me.

How are you coping with all the trauma? Do you think Rachel will miraculously end up going to NYADA
after all? (I kind of do.)

This episode killed me (not literally!). I am completely emotionally drained. This despite the fact that The Rain in Spain number was absolutely appalling. Suddenly Rachel's concluding subplots will be incredibly important, redeeming or not.

I'm glad they showed Bieste giving Cooter a second chance. It shows they were taking it seriously, because her simply leaving right away, while it would've been all Gleeful and reassuring, was entirely too neat and unrealistic, which is something that any treatment of a subject such as domestic abuse really can't afford to be, IMO.

I'm guessing Rachel will get some last-second dream fulfillment device thrown her way, so I'm finding it difficult to be really sorry for her.

Puck, on the other hand, is much more likely to be screwed long term by his choices.

I'm kindda hoping that the Nationals performance lets Rachel atone in some way for choking, but it really got to me when her audition went wrong and she was just asking for another chance. I recognized that feeling of wanting a do-over when you fail at something that was basically your dream. Oh, crap, and now Glee made me cry, again.

I'm not sure where they're going with Beiste's story in this, but I think it was supposed to take us by surprise, like the real abuse sometimes does.

This really was an episode on failure - if we ignore Kurt, and now I'm not so sure they're really gonna win nationals... was that the hidden intent?

I predict a more serious abuse episode later when Cooter puts her in hospital or something, they have a social responsibility to not let that end well and send out a message to go ahead and give a second chance, maybe a good cliff hanger?

I really don't know how they're doing Glee for Season 4 since a batch will not be at McKinley High. It almost seems like we forget about Nationals and I'm assuming we all know they'll win it this year. But who knows? Makes sense. Glee should focus on the New Directions winning Nationals more since the show is about them ultimately and that's the goal. Rachel is bound for something big so maybe she'll bypass Nyada and be a star early on?

not that glee is going to do it but technically speaking if they make it so that Rachel's mom Shelby is a nyada alum then Rachel might get a second chance due to the legacy choice. I know some big schools follow that legacy entry and Whoopi will be forced to give her a second chance in the finale.

I hope Rachel doesn't get in because that would be closer to real life. If you mess up an audition they don't miraculously see talent in you, you just have to try again next year.

I see it as a way to continue the show with Rachel in it. She has to stay in Ohio because she didn't get into the programme. Also, hello, is there only one drama school in the US? Everwood had the same problem: Ephram would only go to Juliard, like there isn't another music school.

Of course there are other schools, but not other schools that she wants to go to. It might be patethic and all, but it happens all the time. Same with me. I've wanted to be a journalist since I was a little girl, and the last couple of years I have worked as one, part-time. I applied for a journalism school in my hometown this year. That is the ONLY journalism school I'm planning to and have always wanted to go to. If I don't get it, I will just study something else, still with the intent of being a journalist - because it's either that school, or nothing. (Luckily there are several "ways" into the business.)

It's the same with Rachel - this is all she has ever wanted, this one school, and now it seems like she won't get it. Saying "there are more schools" is like saying "there are other fish in the sea" to a woman who has just been dumped by the love of her life.

Wow, this episode ... Still processing it. It was very "un-glee" but at the same time very much glee, if you know what I mean. I thought that Beiste had left her husband, but she lied? Dang, didn't see that coming. I hope (and kinda think) that Rachel will somehow end up in Nyada. it was heartbreaking to see her fail, and I don't even like her that much. Looking forward the next ep.

Its glee... I have faith that whoopi is back for the season finale See's a solo and then loves her. I cried during bieste's storyline and puck made me cry. Great episode. My only tiff with cell block tango Is that they didn't do the entire song. Not even for i-tunes. But whatevs. Cry was great so was not the boy next door, shake it out and rain in Spain.

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